There’s nothing quite like the experience of watching a classic Hollywood movie or listening to your favorite music playlist in the comfort of your own home. But can your home network support the plethora of devices and streaming activities that your family uses on a daily basis including laptops, game consoles, Blu-ray players, smartphones, tablets, televisions, video streaming and game downloads? The typical home network is slow and inconsistent. Isn’t it time you upgraded? Read on to learn more about inviting the future of tech into your home.

Support 4K Streaming

Televisions are getting bigger, and prices are coming down—in particular, 4K ultra high-definition TVs. But what good is a fancy, new 4K TV if your network doesn’t have the bandwidth to support your family’s streaming habits? Greater download speeds will transform the way you watch TV and open up a world of crisp color that is sure to make your friends jealous. Slow download speeds result in buffering issues and lag time, which no doubt you have experienced.  

SEE ALSO: Are You Making these Home Networking Mistakes?

An additional piece of information to be aware of is that internet service providers (ISP) often put a cap on the total amount of data that a customer can use each month. These caps present a problem when it comes to streaming live video. If your ISP limits your data usage to 50 or 200 GB per month, you could quickly reach your limit when live streaming. 

Most homes in the Dallas, Texas area have a network of some sort. With so many internet-connected devices available now, there’s no denying that a network is an essential part of everyday life. So why are networking issues so common? If you want to avoid making the mistakes that so often result in an unreliable, unsecure, and glitchy home network, then read on.

Mistake One: Thinking “Off the Shelf” is Good Enough

With networking equipment, you absolutely get what you pay for. The standard routers you find in your local electronics store might be adequate for a home without any smart home automation devices, but if you’re the type of person who embraces the Internet of Things, you’ll have much better luck with a professional system. Professional-grade networking is about more than high-quality equipment (although that plays a big role). It’s about finding the right equipment for your needs – both today and for the future.

Mistake Two: Not Changing the Default Settings

Although networking companies are getting better about giving unique default usernames and passwords, the most common combination is still admin, admin. In fact, it’s easy to find complete lists of the default login IP addresses, usernames, and passwords for all the popular networking brands.

So what does this mean for you? It means that if someone wants to gain access to your network, they can do it in less than a minute. After hacking into your network, they’ll be able to see all the data transferred to and from your computer as well as track some web pages you’re viewing. It could be a very big problem, but fortunately, it’s easy to avoid: just update the default settings with a secure username and password that’s not easily guessable.

SEE ALSO: 5 Questions to Ask When Upgrading Your Home Network